Holly bit her lip and glanced to the blond man’s neck. He was holding her terribly close, his head bowed next to hers, leaving his neck exposed at a level she could reach. She peered at the unmarred skin for a moment and then leaned her face toward him and merely rested her lips against his throat, trying to find the vein before letting her teeth out.
“Mmmm,” her dance partner murmured by her ear in reaction. His hands then dropped to slide over her behind to squeeze her cheeks and lift her slightly, urging her snugly against him.
Ignoring that, Holly concentrated on trying to find the vein, allowing her tongue to lightly trace the skin of his neck.
“You don’t want him to feel pain and you’ll experience pleasure when you bite him. Let him feel your pleasure to cover the pain. But give him the thought that you’re just kissing his neck or giving him a hickey or something as you do,” Gia’s words came into her head unimpeded just as Holly found the vein. As Gia had said, it was hard to describe how she knew it was the right spot, but she did. Still she hesitated another moment, afraid to mess this up and have the guy start screaming his head off and shoving her away.
“I’m right here,” Gia reassured her. “I’ll control him if anything goes wrong.”
Right, Holly thought, then took a deep breath and let her fangs slide out to pierce his skin. She gasped in surprise as pleasure slid through her, tingling along her tongue and through her body. But then she felt the man holding her stiffen and she quickly tried to transfer her pleasure to him as well. When he shifted so that one of his legs was between both of hers and he ground himself against her hip while rubbing his thigh against her core to the slow beat, she knew she’d succeeded and turned her attention to counting to thirty. It was amazing how long it could take to count to thirty slowly. But the amount of pleasure she felt at feeding off a mortal was even more amazing. Holly had never felt this reaction to bagged blood being popped to her teeth. With that there was just a sort of relief and she could only think the nanos caused this response to make feeding off of mortals more appealing than it otherwise would be. And it was appealing. She could have gone on for hours sucking at his neck while he held her in his warm embrace, their bodies moving together, but Holly was worried enough about hurting him that she stopped the minute she reached thirty.
“Oh, baby, don’t stop,” her dance partner moaned, turning his head to try to claim her lips.
“Send him away,” Gia said with amusement when Holly twisted her head away and began to struggle in an effort to get out of his hold.
She’d forgotten she could control him, that she was, in fact, still inside his thoughts, Holly realized. Feeling stupid, she quickly put the suggestion in his thoughts that he wanted a drink. Something with orange juice, she added, just in case, and sent him on the way to the bar.
“Remove yourself from his thoughts and put in an explanation for the marks on his neck,” Gia instructed, and Holly followed the man with her eyes as she slid back into his thoughts to remove herself from his memory. She paused there though and glanced to Gia wondering just what kind of explanation she could put in his mind for the puncture wounds on his neck.
“An accident with a barbecue fork?” Gia suggested with a laugh.
Holly shook her head, but couldn’t come up with anything better, so quickly slipped the idea into the man’s mind and then withdrew from his thoughts.
“Splendido, piccola!” Gia congratulated, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her into a hug. “Very good. Superbo! I’m so proud!”
Holly laughed with relief and hugged her back, but then pulled back and said, “It was much nicer than bagged blood.”
“Si,” Gia agreed with a smile, but then her expression turned serious and she added somberly, “But remember, we feed like this only in emergencies.”
“And in training,” Holly put in.
“Si,” Gia agreed. “But if you do it at any other time you will be punished.”
“What’s the punishment?” Holly asked curiously.
“Death,” Gia answered. “Feeding off mortals is risky. It raises the likelihood of our existence being discovered. It is not allowed except in emergencies . . . and training.”
“Right,” Holly breathed. Blood bags were suddenly looking more attractive.
“Again,” Gia said now. “We must find you another to practice on.”
“Your fangs are showing.”